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It's here. Finally here. For weeks you've waited, checking the mail every single day, to no avail - but today, your invitation has finally arrived. You eagerly tear open the envelope and read:

Congratulations, [insert username here]! You have been selected as a member of this year's Treasure Hunt 'Round the World! Or at least, you're a preliminary member -- of course, we have to weed out the doers from the dreamers, and that's what this first challenge is for. Please solve it, and write us back at [redacted] with the answer attached. Then and only then will you receive your true invitation to the games.

Yours truly,

Bailey M
Puzzlemaster for the Treasure Hunt 'Round the World

At last, you can begin the puzzling experience of a lifetime! Excitedly, you flip over the card and read:

$$ ? = \frac{303116229854873}{31} $$

We've given you the answer... but what's the question?

The story continues in the next part, Treasure hunt 'round the world! (clue 1)

This is no longer being treated as a semi-interactive puzzle. Rather, it will be a linked-puzzle treasure hunt, which each clue being its own puzzle.

Community
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Bailey M
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    "How many months have you been waiting for this day?" - Too many.. – Mark N Jun 17 '15 at 18:18
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    Well just to save someone the trouble, the number there isn't prime. Its two factors (971 and 312169134763), however, are. – PrincessTrevor Jun 17 '15 at 18:54
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    I'm considering abandoning the "semi-interactive puzzle" tag and making each part of the Treasure Hunt 'Round the World its own question; I'm torn, because it means that I can't easily tie information from previous steps back in with the current step, but ultimately I think that Eli deserves a "correct answer" stamp for his awesome work on this puzzle. Any opinions from the peanut gallery? – Bailey M Jun 18 '15 at 13:12
  • @BaileyM Without seeing the rest of the story, I probably agree with abandoning the tag. – LeppyR64 Jun 18 '15 at 15:48
  • As much as I would like to see the whole puzzle under one heading, it's difficult to give respect to those that make the early steps. It's also tough to keep focus on the puzzle as we don't know if we're waitin for you to do the next step or if the current answers are wrong. There will probably be a whole mess of Partial/incorrect answers because of it too. – LeppyR64 Jun 18 '15 at 15:49
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    @LeppyR64 the mess of answers is probably the biggest reason, actually. With 4 answers on this prologue alone, I didn't feel it was wise for all the other answers to the larger parts to be attached to this question as well. – Bailey M Jun 18 '15 at 15:53

4 Answers4

31

convert 303116229854873 to Base-31, we get BECAUSE789.

The question is

Why was 6 afraid of 7?

The answer is

Because 7 ate 9

Eli
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Perhaps I'm thinking too laterally, but it seems like the question is:

"What's the question?"

Or to interpret it slightly differently, but in the same spirit:

The question is "What?"

Ninety-Three
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Maybe a coincidence:

31 digits in base 3
1110202020121222020012020221222

Jared
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Please tell me its as easy as:

303116229854873 / 31 = 9777942898544.29

BethM
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    As legitimate as that answer is, I fear that if you respond to the Puzzlemaster with '9777942898544.29' as your answer, you will not be invited back to participate in the actual Treasure Hunt... – Bailey M Jun 17 '15 at 20:29
  • OK, good to know. I just wanted to rule it out. – BethM Jun 17 '15 at 21:48